It’s Good To Be The Princess

My dad and a dear family friend have been visiting quite a bit the past couple weeks. It was Pop’s idea, no his mission, since the spring to get an easier and safer bathroom area for me at home. It’s especially important since last June when the visiting EMTs suggested that I really needed to stop going upstairs. The shower is upstairs.

So, we worked on where we could put the bathroom, what I needed in that space and when we could do the work. Pop did the construction part and Greg, who is a family friend and he and his wife were my first bosses, babysitting their kids on bowling nights when I was a teen, is a plumber by trade and is doing the rest.

I’m enjoying the fact that growing up a construction princess means that I have a very real idea of how much materials cost and I know what you get for the cost of labor, even though I don’t get charged that; it’s a gift. I do know that there shouldn’t be any complaint about construction costs when you employ a responsible contractor. I grew up with the importance of quality work instilled in me and I know there are many days when construction workers are home late finishing a job or because they fixed or headed off problems or changed something because the person ordering the work wanted a change half way through the project. Part of those labor costs include vacations the family never takes in the summer and games or concerts dads and even even moms miss because work keeps them away. Honest contractors make those sacrifice to deliver quality work and at times their families make those sacrifices right along with them. Ideally it makes the family stronger and ideally that really does answer any questions about the worth of the cost to anyone who hires a contractor to do a good job.

I’ll have the grab bars installed next week by the same local small company that did the grab bars we have now and wheelchair ramp and Pop will be back to do the finishing, but everything is installed and all the water is working. I can use my electric toothbrush tonight!

Spire during early construction

We have had one mystery that’s part of the new bathroom and sorely missed. We have 2 plants that we’ve had good luck with. They are both baby rubber tree plants. Spire was the one plant I had in Northville that survived Kaline’s kittenhood. I had replanted the plants from a couple of growing greenery arrangements from my mother’s funeral. When a sprig of a couple of Spire’s leaves broke off, I put it in water and it sprouted roots. When the new roots were robust enough I planted it and we christened the new plant Sprout, Spire’s offspring!

Sprout in a photo shoot with Coca-Cola Life in August

Somehow in the early construction we lost Sprout; I mean file a missing plantson report, lost. How do you lose a plant? Sprout was a fairly robust plant on the skinny top of the short wall off our kitchen counter right next to where the bathroom wall would go. Pop handed sprout to me and I set him on the counter next to the stove. He’d been moved to on top of the toaster oven, which we weren’t using yet at the time. I saw him there. David saw him there. But in the evenng after the rough construction and electric inspectors had been in, David filled the cats’ water bowls, watered Spire and then went to water Sprout. He asked, “Where is Sprout?” We looked all over the house and Sprout was no where to be found. I texted Kelly, who’d been here during the the start of construction and the last place she’d seen him was on top of the toaster oven. When Pop was in again we asked and he joined another impromptu search party. Still; no Sprout. It was an involved enough mystery that Pop was soon joining us in using the personal pronoun “he” in searching for the plant!

It’s been weeks now and Sprout hasn’t shown up anywhere. We’ve looked on top of anyplace he could have been put and under anyplace he could have fallen. Maybe when things are done and I start to move the pantry and clothes out of the dining room and living room, I’ll find him. Or maybe the mystery will never be solved. There is another sprig of baby rubber tree plant that had fallen off one of them in a glass of water in the kitchen. I think it’s growing roots in the water.

Finally A Quiet Night

A peek in to the soon-to-be bathroom!

Wow, a little bit of quiet! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in Naniland. After that first weekend of the trip I sent David away on, things shifted back to sort of normal.

Pop started work on the skeleton for the new bathroom and spent the night before Kelly got in and was my caregiver . It was just like the old days! I mean really old days; the kind that includes jokes about remembering my mom's favorite old stories that included my dad and grandfather holding a diaper with the naked baby laughing on the bed because they didn't know what to do with it. Yeah, those kind of old days. Picking up dinner to have together and chatting while he's working didn't bring up the naked baby stories. Those were just giggles with the help boost me up from the chair to get in the bathroom times.

On the Tuesday of that week Kelly got in and she was there the rest the week and through the weekend until David got home. Pop was in and out working during that time and Greg, our family friendly whose also a plumber by trade, was in to check out the site, existing plumbing and what he would need to do the rough plumbing work. Oh yeah, during that time we also had Electric contractors into redo our breaker box several other projects including reroute Electric were necessary for the new bathroom.

The coolest thing the electricians did was this:

They put in a new socket for the microwave on the other side of the kitchen where we can put the microwave for I can reach it. That means I can warm up hot food when David's not home. This was dinner tonight:

Now before anybody says the macaroni and cheese in a cup is not such an incredible dinner remember two important things. First off, macaroni and cheese is comfort food and it's ALWAYS an incredible dinner. Second, and this is the bigger thing, I haven't been able to heat anything up since last December when I quit trying to heat soup because I often spilled it in my lap. So tonight I had hot food for dinner and I didn't have to pay for it. I really didn't have to pay for it either. David bought the macaroni and cheese cup. –smiles–

Right now it's the first day in a while that no one's been over and I haven't had to answer the door for something being delivered. I have a half paneled Half skeleton bathroom with a door that closes, although some walls that you can still see-through, with rough plumbing and fixtures in it. That even includes a toilet that's a few feet away from where it's eventually going to be. Earlier this week when Pop and Greg we're working on the rough plumbing Matt, from Accessible Renovations, the company that did my ramp and grab bars, stopped in to be sure where things will be located and that there's proper fortification in the walls for when he does the grab bars. I joke that it's the kind of "potty talk” a woman wants to have with three construction workers!

Greg's handiwork and my future sink!

While they did the rough plumbing Sheri had come over because it was her birthday Wednesday and I took her out to Ya Halla for lunch. I told Pop on Wednesday morning that I kind of felt bad taking off for lunch while they were working. He asked “why do you feel guilty? Where you going to jump in and help us with the pipes?" When I told them I could at least get coffee he told me he knows how to work the coffee maker. He really wasn't going to except me canceling plans for Sheri's birthday. That's good because I would've felt guilty about that too. And lunch was SO good!

So now October has begun. I should have a working bathroom in a couple weeks!

New Things

It's been a week of lots of new things. I'm getting settled in and cozy with Joey, the MacBook Pro, finally a computer worthy of being named after Joey Votto.I'm loving having a Mac again! I'm getting comfy now with the dictation software that's part of Pages, the Mac software for documents. The cool thing about Pages is that, unlike its predecessor, AppleWorks, Pages reads and can save in .doc format. That means it can read and communicate with Microsoft Word documents. Very cool!

I finished my first scrapbook page with the new computer. Photoshop works the same as it did on the old computer and I'm having pretty easy time getting used to the smaller screen.

Credits: The Autumn Knocks by GabisCreation

David left on his stress detox vacation Friday. Taking care of me can be a pretty high stress job, especially when you work a full time job already. Chapter 4 in “The Care and Feeding of Your Caregiver” stresses the importance of caregivers having a break from caregiving. That usually means a girls week for Kelly and me. Right now Kelly has some family stuff going on and can't be here till later in the week. That means I get to try something new. I have home health aides that come in a couple of times a day to help out with things and basically do a wellness check. It’s not too bad and rather helpful, especially at night to make sure I'm safely tucked in. I have “me time” to scrap or read or whatever without feeling like I need to be a host to someone in my home but I have someone who is there a few times a day to help me with the things I can’t quite do on my own.

The only bump in smooth sailing has been Marco. Marco likes to try to “run the gate” when the door opens. I blame his daddy; David is such an enabler. He lets Marco go outside and do his roll around ob the driveway and eat some grass before he sends him back in. Of course, I can’t do that. He ran out in the rain Friday night when the “tuck me in” caregiver came in and she had to chase him down in the driveway and bring him back. Did I mention it was raining? Then yesterday when the delivery guy brought my dinner, he did it again. The poor guy was holding the keep warm bag with my dinner, the re copout and pen for my signature AND chasing the cat. Marco didn’t get any further than the steps on the porch last night, but jeez, Marco! On my paperwork for the caregiver agency it says that I have three cats; Kaline, Carla and Marco. There is a note that says to watch out for Marco because he tries to go outside and none of the cats are outdoors cats. He tried to do the entitled “I’m just going outside” march when the assessor came in to meet me too.

Pop will be here tomorrow to get started on construction on the downstairs accessible bathroom with shower! He’s staying tomorrow night and is going to be Construction Guru and caregiver so I don't have to pay for the wellness checks. I am totally excited about the new bathroom! Add that to the new top half of my power chair, that's hopefully in the final process of being ordered, and they'll have a lot of independence back. With the lift mechanics in the new chair, I’ll even be able to stand a little, good for edema, and reach the controls to cook!

As long as everything goes alright for Kelly, she’ll be here Tuesday for the rest of the week and we will have our "girls time” for the rest of the week. It’s been a new world this week, but it’s a good new world.

A Magic Chair?

Well, it sure has become spring in these parts! The crocuses have bloomed and finished and we have members of the narcissus family appearing, when it’s not raining it’s bright and the trees are beginning to bud and shower their happy pollen up my nose!

I’ve acknowledged before and it’s still true tart my allergies are incredibly mild compared to many people who suffer from them but it’s all personal perspective at any given moment. I’ve been mildly stuffed up but I can maintain my breathing without panting like a dog all the time but I don’t smell as well. That’s such a bummer because they had a couple of huge lilies at the senior center when our MS group met and I tried to smell them and couldn’t. Lilies are one of my favorite springtime scents. My chest and throat are a little gravelly buy while I can feel a little stress when I take a deep breath and my voice is a little raspy, I don’t have a sore throat or cough. I’m taking care of myself by keeping my area warm with the space heater and drinking my Gypsy Cold Care tea. I’m also getting a lot more sleep the past few nights!

I got a call on Monday from the medical supply place we ordered the lift hair from. The chair was in and could they deliver it this week, tomorrow?

Well, yeah!

We’d cleared the area where the chair was to go. It was going to replace the loveseat that the cats had ravaged. I don’t exactly remember the couch and love seat pair’s history in detail, but they far outdate me in David’s world and as he said, “they owe me nothing.” Rather than David trying to take the loveseat out on his own (NOT cool with me even if he’d been dumb enough o want to) we tilted it up on its side out of the way to take it out when we have help. The thing is, tilting it made it brand new to the kitty kids and they immediately started to find new places to prowl on the love seat they’d claimed as a scratching post.

 

For right now it’s keeping them from wanting to scratch the new chair!

I had to have a few tries to get the transferring to the chair procedure figured out. But by bedtime Tuesday I’d gotten myself into the chair and motored back into the fully reclined position. Fully reclined is my torso just lower than my feet, my lower back comfortably stretched and my legs and feet fully supported by the leg rest. I think I get why “zero-gravity” was a thing to my doctor. Part way thought a very restful night I’d moved the back up a little and Kaline slept in my lap for a while. I woke up after a very full and restful night and I had a very good high energy and low pain day. I slept on the recliner the next two nights and David and I both experienced long restful sleep nights. So at least to the foreseeable future we’re going to way of 1950s TV where married couples sleep in different beds and “don’t ask, don’t tell” what happens during the commercials. ;)


Now the Tigers just won an afternoon game against the White Sox walk off style and the chair is beckoning me to catch some ID before the Reds game.

It Only Takes A Few Drops

 

(Nani grooving to funky music)

 “I’m up all night to get lucky…”

What a great Friday!

The garage door opener tech-guys were over bright and early to find out why our garage door has been open for a few days. It was stuck and David thought he hit a rest button that made the button in the garage work but none of the remotes worked. The service call was almost $100. It would be plus parts if they could fix it, half could be use towards an all new opener if they couldn’t fix it and if hitting reset cleared the boxes it would probably be money spent so they could click a couple buttons and say goodbye. Well, it needed a part that they had in the truck, put it in and the door opens fine again. It cost much less than we feared it could, but it was indeed necessary to pay the service fee and have them come out.

How about another for today? David and I want to go see Lindsey Stirling in Michigan in June. I was in charge of finding out what the venue, that I haven’t been to since long before the wheelchair days, has for accessible seating. They have wheelchair spaces and chairs for companions and the level area right behind the pavilion seating. But since the accessible seating in the outdoor theater is just outside of the pavilion cover, the seats are priced as lawn seats. $25 for a concert!

Now, as for my title and beginning of the blog; how could the day not be just golden for me? Let me back up a bit. It’s my few drops of Irish blood this St. Patrick’s Day week, you see. I guess that even though those few drops that gave me green eyes and summer freckles is from the orange side of the flag, the Irish blessing still applies. I have slowed way down in my music, books and scrapbooking allowance every month since Christmas. Two gift cards for Christmas loaded up my iPad with books, so I haven’t suffered there and I’m conservative with scrapbook supplies I buy and only shop sales, but there hasn’t been more than two new songs a month where I used to give myself a limit of ten a month. Since I hadn’t bought a song in quite a while and was dying to hear that Daft Punk song, Get Lucky, I bought it yesterday evening. No, the song is NOT about Irish luck, but that doesn’t matter.

On St. Patrick’s Day Ginger Scraps had a contest that I joined in on. There was a list of 23 designers and those who played along were to torture themselves by going through very one of the 23 stores and pick out one kit that you’d want if you could have any kit in their shop and put the title and link to it in your document with the 23 titles and links. It really was having some fun and helping to promote the store, part by beefing up your own wish list. One lucky player would be selected at random and actually win their entire lit!! 23 designers and the average cost of a kit is about $6. It’s an over $100 prize! When I read my email this morning at about 6:30AM there was an email alerting me to a private message at Ginger Scraps. I’d forgotten all about the game on St. Patty’s Day and I wondered if it was something about the last layout I posted there. The title of the message; “You Are The Lucky Lady!” I was the random selection! I won 23 kits!

I am floored! I am excited! How cool is that??

Then there was the happy garage door fix and at noonish, l logged on to Facebook because the iPad said I had a private message from Jill, of Created by Jill Scraps. Jill’s one of my favorite current designers. I get her newsletter and I have a separate folder in my scrapbook cross reference file because she doesn’t sell at a store where I usually do challenges and want to access her kits quickly when I scrap. I’d left a comment on her Facebook page in a “leave a comment to win” thread. A random winner would receive her new in store today kit. Guess who is Ms. Random again today?! After posting here I’ll be on my way to Pickleberry Pop to download my new kit!

I’ve had some struggling days since the end of last year. A day like today, a Nani is a lucky winner day, well, if that’s not a great way to say “Happy Spring First…” I guess an all-expense paid trip to Florida or Arizona, but I don’t recall entering anything like that to be surprised about. But it’s been an awesome day to say good riddance to another winter.

Now I’m turning up the Daft Punk and heading to check out that Pickle Barrel!

First World Problem?

Tonight it’s quiet. Oh, there is the sound of lots of rain outside and a little thunder rumble here and there, but inside is the sound of the poker game on David’s computer and me clicking on the keyboard. The Reds and Pirates are in a rain delay but the Reds are ahead 9-2 in the 7th. I know this because Buddy Bat, my iPad, tells me so on the mlb app and he’s been making the sound that there is news every time the Reds score. But there is no sound in the room that would give any idea that there had been a ball game of interest going on in Pittsburgh. For the average American home, this is a quiet house.

There is a home in Toledo where there is no television to make the sounds of announcers telling of the rain delay. I happen to live in that home. Let me go back a few days to tell the tale.

On June 14, David taped and I posted on Facebook this video:

Post by Davonna Lividini Patch.

Marco has been going insane when the chipmunk is right on the window ledge! You notice that the TV is on the chest and he is jumping behind it like a madcat. We’d been chuckling at this behavior for a couple of days. It was in the area where the cat stands, hammocks and scratching posts are. What harm could he do?

Well Monday I turned on the TV to watch Investigation Discovery at lunch. The television showed snow. My first thought is to make sure the set is on channel 3. It was. Then I checked for a loose cable and lo and behold I found the cord for the cable wasn’t connected to the TV. Marco’s shenanigans from the morning must have knocked it out. I turned the TV and moved the cable to the area where the connector for it sticks out of the back. I pulled the metal ended cable back quick when there was a spark! Marco didn’t knock the cable out; he broke the entire connector off! I was moving toward putting the cable into an open socket in the back of the TV.

Now it is a very old TV. We just don’t watch enough TV to have ever made replacing it a priority. We’ve talked about it but since we’ve talked about a new TV we’ve had the basement waterproofed, a new roof and we’ve both gotten new computers. I’ve gotten 2 eReaders and a tablet in that time too.

David moved the TV Tuesday morning to try to find the connector that broke off in case it can be put back on. See our TV really is NOT a priority; if a little duct tape could have put it back in place… But the connector was nowhere to be found. During the searching process the old fat-designed television was put on the love seat so it wouldn’t get knocked off the chest David was searching under. We’re not totally sure what happened to the loveseat, but it got jarred and the TV tumbled onto the floor. David saw a broken plastic frame on the front and I’m sure I heard a muffled tingle of broken internal glass. The time for TV talking is over.

So I took myself to school that morning to find out what we needed to look for in one of those new-fangled TVs. It was actually fun research. I hadn’t looked for a TV in a very long time. I remember when….let me pull the gray hairs to the front so I look the part that statement fits. I remember when I worked at the production house that produced the very first commercial in HDTV. Serious, the first TV ad ever produced in high definition was edited at the production house where I worked. Now most of the TVs in stores have high definition capability.

I learned about the fact that my antiquated notion that the lines of resolution are important is no more. All TVs have greater resolution than they did the last time I shopped for an analog TV or monitor. The refresh rate is the thing now. How many times does the picture completely rebuild itself in a second? The basic-quality ones do it 60 times in a second! I wrote down all my technical notes and how many inputs of what kinds we might need. With as often as we watch DVDs, we could get a TV with the connector to watch a DVD in one of our computers and not have to buy a new DVD player. We have the information we need to ask the right questions when we shop for our new TV.

Before we get the TV we have to have an electrician come in to bring our 1950s house up to safe grounded 3-prong outlets. We’ll also need to reorganize the living room so I can have a desk there instead of the dining room so I can see the TV where we’ll put it. It’ll be flat but a bigger screen than Old Broken and besides, we want to have it away from the ledge outside the big window where the chipmunk plays! Then once the TV is selected and placed, we’ll need to switch to the fancy cable stuff, so the cable guys will need to come in and set us up.

It’s going to be a few weeks, months, before we have TV again. But when we do have it again we’ll be part of the American 21st century! We’ll have been without it for long enough that we might just sit and watch a show or two. Nah, I want to see a Reds or Tigers game on the fancy schamcy new TV first. Or maybe I’ll just watch an episode of Blood Relatives on ID.

Goals and Projects For 2014

BRRR… I’m cold. It’s cold outside and we have a drafty door near where I’m sitting. But, I feel otherwise good and not at all sick. 2013 ends better than 2012 did and it promises a better January 1 for 2014!

As I say goodbye to 2013 it’s time to set up my goals and projects for 2014. Looking over 2013’s goals and projects I can say that I’m pleased with how well I did in some areas and I know I definitely disappointed myself in some. In some areas I nailed the “or something better.”

“We aim above the mark to hit the mark.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Clean and Organize Project:

Well, last year I dropped the White Tornado idea for 2013 and well, I must say we did a good job of not moving forward on that front. Looking forward now however, I’m less mobile and more clumsy and that makes everyday things more out of reach and clutter more dangerous. In the first couple months of 2014 I’ll be researching and asking questions. After suggestions from friends (hi Edna!) and other family members I’m going to look into avenues for daily living assistance for people with disabilities. I understand there are even people who will help with serious cleaning and organizing a more accessible house.

Like I said research first. I need to find out what assistance I can get, if I am an eligible candidate for disability assistance and how much it will cost/if I can afford it. I figure initially there will be a lot of work to get our house truly organized and safe, then maybe just someone who can help tidy up once a week or so. We’ll see; this is entirely new territory for me. I’ll talk to my doctor too to see if he has any suggestions.

One thing that I must get done is the door jamb on the entryway to the kitchen from the dining room has to come out. There is snuggly enough space to drive the power chair through but if the jamb is removed it will give an extra inch. In all the years David’s been here there’s never been a door there, so the door jamb won’t be missed. A mid-December call to 911 to come pick me up off the kitchen floor because my leg just quit while I was hobbling back from the bathroom made me decide that I had to be able to use the chair in the kitchen. I also want to see about a couple more grab bars in the hallway to the downstairs bathroom, where the chair doesn’t fit at all and I have to “walk.”


Blog Goals:

Blog more regularly?? I did the consolidation in the fall putting all my blogs on The Chronicles of Nani so I have plenty of material for a healthy blog, I just need to get my head in the right place. Counseling is helping; I’m getting g better. I also think that if I can get the help to get the house up to safer and more comfortable it will help too. I can’t let my mental health depend on that right now though since I don’t know for sure that I can get or afford that help! Still, I’ve set some 2014 goals with my counselor and I feel good about my prospects. I want it and I believe it will work, 75% of the battle.

So, with my head and heart in a better place, and getting better day by day, I should be able to commit myself to The Chronicles better. I want to blog a minimum of twice a week. I’m also going to post at least one Tweet a day.


Reading Goals:

This is one place I am very pleased with my numbers for 2013. My goal was to read 2 books a month with a short book review on The Chronicles of Nani. I read 27 books with reviews here in 2013! Waiting in doctors' offices gets a nod for help with that one, but so does reading before bed or an afternoon nap.

For 2014, I’m keeping that goal of 2 books a month with book reviews here.


Health and Wellness:

Of course the January Detox starts January 2, or whichever day I can get out of the house after the snow to stock up on some better groceries. With decreased mobility and depression came some bad eating habits and less movement! I don’t try to lose in December; I just try to not gain any weight or at least very little. This November and December was a fail! An emotional eater in distress, I gained enough to feel uncomfortable emotionally and physically. I do start January with a bunch of containers of my own homemade vegetable soup in the freezer, a very recent Lean Cuisine sale where David stocked me up and a week’s worth of Greek yogurt in the fridge. I need to get out to the produce market.

I want to lose at least 20 pounds by June.

In physical health and wellness goals, I will have my first round of epidural steroids for my lower back next week. I’m not going to hide that I’m as nervous as can be. I remember the worst part of spinal taps I got when I was 18 was feeling those needles when I couldn’t see what was going on. Numb or not it was agonizing. For this procedure I can’t take the bus because I can’t go home alone, David has to be there because I get IV funny juice. Continued pain is the only prospect I like less! Hopefully the injections will help me get up from a sitting position better and give me a little light exercise ability.


Scrapbooking:

The idea of scrapping the current month instead of trying to catchup a year at a time went brilliantly! Every folder for January and February was completed during these months in 2013! Now those are the months I take fewer pictures, but I’ll be catching up some of the December and November during those months this year while I’m keeping 2014 up to date.

I did keep a tally of the pages I completed each month with my goal of averaging a layout a day. In 2013 I finished 484 scrapbook pages with my record month being July (When the ramp was still new for discovering all the places I could go and it was hot anyway) I did 66 layouts in July!

In this too my goal shall remain the same; average a page a day with a tally kept.


Project 365:

Now here was a fail this year. I figured out that where I completed 2012 but fell behind and dropped 2013 was in the randomness. 2012 was just a line or two written about the day and a layout with those thoughts each week. 2013 was a structured “writing assignment” that had to be written and scrapped every week with pre-assigned topics for each week. I like a challenge, but hobbies are supposed to be fun and as challenging as I want them to be on any day. This year my Project 52 will be “2014: That’s So Random!” I’m going to do a page a week. It might be a journaling page, or a quote every day, a picture a day, a mix of ideas each day or just a layout of a highlight event for the week. I won’t know until the week is under way what it’ll be.

We’ll see how that works!


Employment Goal:

Part of working toward working for me in 2013 was volunteering. Volunteering means networking and earning some current references who have worked with me in a professional setting. As the year was winding down I had some wonderful ego-building surprises as a result of volunteer work that have pushed me into leadership and more detailed work. That means that I not only feel like I have a lot to offer even with wheels, but I’m perceived as having a lot to offer by other professionals. I can’t even express how good that feels and how much it does for my confidence!

So my goals for employment this year are to keep doing what I’ve been doing, shoring up my resume presentation and add at least a few professional items to my wardrobe. Ideally it would be great to land something part time and either have that go full time or move on to a full time placement from there. I know it’d be best to build my stamina rather than jump into 40+ hours a week right off the bat. I want, no need, to feel I’m making a valuable contribution at work and to the home income too.

And there is my plan for 2014. 

 Of course, this or something better!

One Meme or Another

This has been a busy and quick week. The powerchair came to live with us. Carla and Kaline seem to like it a lot more than they did Morgan. Carla has not jumped up in it to nap like she does my walker, but give it time. Kaline will sit in my lap when I’m sitting in it and it’s turned off, but I still get that “Daddy’s legs make a better pillow” look from her. David’s legs are a decent bit longer with a flatter tummy. I still have the hip and chest she prefers. When I turn it on and move, they clear the way just like they do when I walk; it seems the powerchair is not as scary as the vacuum!

Tuesday we met with reps about getting a stair lift and a ramp. It really is just silly to wear out my arms with the manual chair to go the doctor’s office when I have the power chair he did all that paperwork for me to have!  The powerchair seems bigger, like it may not fit all the places the manual chair does, and after I’ve complained that handicap bathrooms seemed to be made for powerchairs. We’ll see, maybe it just feels bigger because it’s more comfortable.

To punctuate the need for the stair lift, I slipped on the top step coming down Wednesday morning. I didn’t go headfirst down, but I fell back on the landing hard on my butt. I’m okay, but boy was I sore all day.

Thursday David was off work and out In the west side of the state. I stayed home; I got up slow and wanted to take it as an easy day.  I seemed to be busy all day and didn’t really get a lot done.

I had a really nice salad for lunch with tuna and black beans and then I got caught in my current book which has about 100 pages of intense rising action right before the climax. How could I stop? Now, having discovered that there was entirely too much book left after the climax, I’m trying to get through the drawn out finish. Unless there is a serious OMG moment in the last 70+ pages, it won’t be getting 5 stars when I write my review. I guess what I got a lot done of yesterday is reading, which would be impressive if I was about 10, it’s a bit of a slacker at almost 47.


After that volume of that I did this week, how about what most of you are here for; one meme or another!

Follow Friday Four Fill In Fun Blog Hop

This week’s statements:
1. If ___ then____
2. ____ is my ___ of the ____
3. Once, I was surprised to find myself __________________.
4. To keep from going crazy, I _________.

My Answers:

1. If you’re going to stare then say “hello!”

2. Self-activism is my project of the year.

3. Once, I was surprised to find myself cheering for the Reds in the playoffs against the Braves when I thought I was a Braves fan. In the heat of passion, the heart shows its true self.

4. To keep from going crazy, I read. I have always hated waiting but now I have to accept it. I read more now.


Five Question Friday

1. What's the one personal hygiene thing you will not do in front of your spouse?

I was raised in a household where respect of privacy and personal space was paramount. That’s not to say I was given “alone time” as a toddler or that I wasn’t hugged as a teenager. I actually didn’t want much alone time as a toddler and I was very touchy-feely with my friends and hugging, probably because hugging was an encouraged sign of affection at home.

That being said, I have always ben pretty private about personal hygiene. I think brush my teeth is the one thing I will so in front of my spouse or anyone. Personal is personal. When Tori and Rina were little, from about 4 up, rather than use a handicap stall to cram all three of us in, we did “shoes.” When one of us was in the stall, the other two stood in front of the door so the person inside could see our shoes. It was meant to respect both our privacy and our need of the security that the other two are there. Okay, that last one was more for me than anything, but they both asked to see shoes when they were in the stall too.


2. What's your favorite thing about a newborn?

That it will grow up? I’ve always said that the great thing about kids is that they get cooler and cooler as they get older. They start out helpless, then they learn and you learn from how they learn too.  Then everyone shares and they grow closer and closer to peers,  When they become fellow adults you just enjoy being with them. I enjoy watching kids grow and being involved, but honestly, I've never known a kid its whole life that I've ever wished was a baby again.   Every person younger than me has become more of a joy to be with as they’ve gotten older. The best thing about a newborn is that promise that the investments of diaper changing and frustrations will pay off with interest.


3. When is "too young" to have a Facebook account?

My arbitrary age for socializing on the internet is 13. I won’t use any more than initials for kids under 13 on my blog too. I think a shared account with a parent is okay before that and hopefully some supervision while you can still get them to at least learn the actual words before they start using text slang. It’s also a good idea to be one of their Facebook friends or at least have a single-no-kids friend or relative you both trust to be on their list.


4. What are your hoping for for Mother's Day?

Last year I got a very sweet text from one of my nieces acknowledging the role I play in her world and wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day. I was moved to tears.


5. What was the best field trip you ever took in school?

My 11th grade Humanities class went on an architectural tour of Detroit. I love classic architecture with lots of detail and downtown Detroit has some beautiful old buildings.

A Brighter Day

Hi there, it’s the Nani you all read and I hope at least like. If you did stop by yesterday and read, you know I wasn’t in a frame of mind to do any of my usual happy Friday posts. Sorry about that and if you did read, thanks for indulging me and I hope you don’t think any less of me. Both politically and personally crime and punishment is the nastiest and darkest my opinions get. I don’t apologize for that. But truthfully even I like the loving and giving me a lot better than the gloomy and grumpy me. Maybe it’s just that control-freak Nani wants to just fix everything I think is wrong with the world?

I am on break right now having just come back downstairs after folding a boatload of laundry that David did and brought upstairs. He does it in a few days of switching a load when he gets home and before bed, usually in the morning too so nothing is sitting in the washer wet. I get lazy and wait until it’s ALL done and sitting in baskets upstairs to be folded. Then it takes a while to do and leaves me exhausted. You’d think I'd learn to space it out. Oh, and I will; it’s just that I’m learning so much all the time about what my own limitations are, how I can expand those limitations that it’s sometimes a matter of baby steps. You know babies learn so much every day that some things take a little longer than you’d think they would. That’s me, MS and laundry folding. But it only took about 6 or 7 times before I got in the groove and perfected my spaghetti system, including salad and the extra garlic and chopped olives in mine. I totally got this.

Monday, April 22, is Earth Day. The Toledo Zoo honored Earth Day today with a major recycling drive. That means we finally got rid of the 32” TV with the shorting audio that’s been quietly sitting in our living room since fall 2010. You see it’s broken; doesn’t work, but it’s too heavy for one person to lift and where do we take it? It’s too big for our curbside cans and neither recycling nor garbage crews will pick it up. So without an easy answer, and not a lot more that an eyesore, not truly “in the way” in the living room, it sat there, getting an occasional swipe with the duster, but mostly just collecting dust for 2-1/2 years. There were other dead appliances in the garage awaiting a recycling drive too, so last night a coworker stopped by to help get the dead TV in David’s car and he added the other things in the garage “appliance graveyard” to it this morning and stopped at the zoo on the way to work. It feels awesome to get rid of those things, especially that TV, and in as environmentally friendly a way as possible.

The timing is wonderful. As David had the information about the old appliance drive at the zoo to share I texted him that we absolutely had to get rid of that space taking TV because it’s right where I want to use as a parking spot for the power chair. Yes, I got a call yesterday that insurance has okayed my power chair! Nani does the sitting happy-dance! The order was placed yesterday and they told me it would be about 2 weeks before they’d call to schedule delivery. I’ll want to schedule that for a day/time when David is home so we both hear and see the care and feeding schedule information for it.

Now I have need to see about getting a ramp installed. When I started looking at ramps we install and they were talking about where to drill holes in the porch, I figured we’d need to have it installed for us. David and I both have degrees and experience in media, not home improvement. I want put some grab bars in the bathrooms. That would be easier and much safer than using towel bars and toilet paper dispensers! Pop agrees and has also joined the family members who have said “what you really need is a ranch.” We do agree but are not rushing to move for $everal reasons. But Pop also said he’d install the ramp and grab bars! It’s good to be “always a construction princess!”

Still tired; I need coffee!

2013 projects and goals

I did some refining and completing on the original goals post I’d written on New Year’s Eve. I guess I’d like to make my first goal to stay out of the hospital except for lab work! That could also be something out of my control, so I’m not making it a goal. One thing I was sad to learn when I was in “the joint” was that there are some bad levels showing on my liver panel. What that means is it may be a side effect of Gilenya, what I call my miracle drug that I’d knock off a liquor store to keep taking. I’ll be getting full blood work, including liver panel, done at the end of this week or beginning of next and my regular doctor and my neurologist in Cleveland will get the results, They said if the abnormalities weren’t just caused by the virus I had, I’ll need to switch my MS meds. I’ll deal, but it’ll mean I have to take shots instead of pills and pray it makes me feel as good. Shoot me a good thought or prayer that it was just the virus!

But let’s get on to things I can control.


Projects and Goals for 2013

"There is no happiness except in the realization 

that we have accomplished something."
Henry Ford

Organizing project:

One thing that blue end of 2012 taught me is that I need to redefine realistic in my planning! My biggest failure was the White Tornado Project. I accept that the project failed, not me. I am just not capable of doing the physical moving to reclaim storage areas in the house as livable rooms. And the truth is we weren’t using them as rooms so we weren’t missing anything.

For 2013 I am NOT putting that project back in the plan. David and I agreed that we need to reorganize some space in the kitchen/annex areas to make it more usable and free up space and that is the only organizing and fix-up project I have planned for the year. We have 2 very full and unused storage rooms and we’ll continue to have 2 storage rooms. I’m okay with that; I’m giving up one idea to help insure the success of a better one!


Blog goals:

I did well in committing myself to comments on other blogs and not having too many long stretches of time that I didn’t blog on Chronicles of Nani. I did not do so well with my desire to offer a scrapbook freebie every month and because I have a growing backlog of scrapbooking to catch up, I won't repeat that goal for this year either. I’ll offer a freebie when I can and I am inspired to do so. I am planning on offering a small non-scrapbook giveaway when I reach 100 blogger followers. I’m not going to make a huge deal about that until it happens. I want “my regulars” to visit because they enjoy my content and style, not just to try to win a prize. Besides, if I reach a number and then people unfollow me, well, what was I celebrating anyway, right?

I’m also going to commit some time early in the year to restoring Davlicious Recipes. I haven’t replaced the lost photos from the great Google Plus error and I want to bring it back to life and start adding new recipes. In keeping up with the “January Detox” that will include some simple and healthy recipes that offer great flavor, a good nutritional balance and fit in comfortable with Weight Watchers points system.

I also want to be more disciplined in keeping up content, even if it’s a short entry, on my MS bog and the cats’ blogs.


Reading Goals:

This is an easy goal, but I have to have some balance and I need to make some me time in my goals too. I was originally thinking a book a week, but there are some times and some books that make that rough, I read The Black Dahlia when I was in the hospital, It’s pretty long and actually not a book I enjoyed. I read the very end as fast as I could to get it done with. Now I’m half way through my second book of the year and the second week is almost over. It’s the book club book for the month at Ginger Scraps. So far it’s a cute book. Still, with other things to do now that I’m back to non-hospitalized life, I can’t see me finishing it in 2 days and I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself for something I do strictly for fun. So, my actual goal is 2 books a month. I’m going to make a point of writing a brief, non-spoiler, review for Good Reads as I finish books this year and I’ll repost those reviews here at The Chronicles too.


January Detox/Health and Wellness:

January detox is simply recovering from December. My plan there is to lose the weight I’ve gained through the holidays and really since August when I allowed myself to feel defeated for the year. That in itself is a daunting task, or could be. In the past and going forward I’ve had my best periods of wellness allowing myself to become food obsessed. If I am really concentrating on my food, how to make it balanced and how to make it taste great and look good on my plate, I stay more committed to being balanced and portion controlled. I also know that my chocolate cravings are best controlled if I make a point to include 25-100 calories of chocolate in my diet every day. Sound weird? In keeping track of that I found that there were days I didn’t meet that goal and “had” to have a Hershey’s kiss with my evening tea or decaf coffee. That's why I call Kisses “supplements.” Treating chocolate like a vitamin really has worked in the past.

Of course, any health and wellness plan must be custom-designed for the person living it. Read up and put the right plan together for yourself, or ask a nutritionist to help, but remember to never let someone else put together a “healthy” eating plan for you that you can’t stick with. If you don’t like the food and don’t eat it, it’s not healthy for you. Strive to find the right balance that will taste good and make you feel good; that’s the healthy plan for you! The way of eating that works best for me incudes lots of soup and a big bowl of crunchy veggies to munch on in the afternoon. And a little taste of chocolate every day.


Scrapbooking:

In May I presented Tori and Rina with the scrapbooks I’d been working on since early 2008 as their high school graduation gifts from me. Especially at the end with the editing and preparation for printing process I was pretty much doing nothing but those books. Then I had a smidge of burn out where I took a bit of a scrapping break, a slowdown. Now I look at my “to be scrapped” folders. I have the majority of 2008, from April on, all of 2009 (which includes our wedding reception and honeymoon) September to the end of 2011 and all of 2012. No, 2010 because I met my goal of having all of 2010 done by the end of February 2011.

What I’ve organized my folders to do for this year is that I am sticking to each current month. In January, I can scrap any pages from any year, as long as they are January pages. If in any current month I complete that month for all four years I have folders for, I can go back to work on open fielders from the previous month, but when that month is over, I move to pages for the next month. This way when I look out the window and see snow, I’m not trying to get myself in the groove of beach photos. The pages I’m scrapping fit my current world and surroundings. I think that will get my natural creativity working better.

I’m going to try to have a tally at the end of each month with how many layouts I got done, and how many folders I’ve closed. So far this month I’ve done the last week of Journal 366, the one allowable from last month and the week that just finished will always be okay to do from the last month to keep up with the year’s project. I’ve also done the first week on 20134 52 topix, 5 layouts completing 3 folders from 2009 with 5 to go and 2 layouts completing 2 folders for 2012 with 5 to go. 2008 and 2001 don’t have January folders. I only have one folder for 2013 right now. Since this is a smaller month as far as undone folders go, I might finish January this year!


Project 365/52:

I’m kinda pumped for this year after actually completing last year’s Journal 366! For this year I’m going to have a weekly theme and my layout will include photos and journaling about my week and how it relates to the week’s theme. I already posted my 2-pager for the first week’s theme; “healthy.” I’ll write and scrap this week’s theme tomorrow or Tuesday. The theme is “fresh fruit.” Tuesday starts “scrapbook” week.


Employment Goal:

Perhaps the most disheartening goal I completely blew off last year was the job search goal. I have always been a person whose external area reflects the internal balance. When my rooms were in order in my suite at my parents’ house, I was mentally in order and could tackle anything. I tidied my office before I went to Chamber of Commerce meetings with my business because if the office was straight, I had more power, more confidence at meet and greets. It enabled someone on the shy side to be more professional and aggressive. I’m trying to redirect that concentration to my computer now and it does make sense because so much in the job seeking process is done through online applications and email now. If my hard drive is organized and my desktop is clean, the confidence level should be up, no matter how many dirty dishes are in the sink.

With a change in insurance, the power chair process is on hold. I’m not going to wait for someday when I have a power chair to get to work on this very important part of my world. I’ll use the manual chair to go to appointments at the Vocational Rehabilitation Bureau and get started on evaluating my abilities. I have the determination and resourcefulness that can fit many places. Plus, hey I’m a disabled woman, a double click on the minority scale! I learned in one of my trade school classes some 20+ years ago that it was foolish to be “too proud” to take an opportunity offered to you because an employer needs to fill a quota you fit. It’s your opportunity to prove that there were even better reasons you were a perfect fit! With a decent job I can save up to get the power chair outright, to heck with insurance. I’d love to tell the insurance companies I don’t need them.


So there are my 2013 goals and projects. They are slowed down and toned down a little for me than in years past. I also have a few outs to accept a smaller accomplishment on occasion; as an example, while I have 2 folders that have January pages in them in the scrapbooking project, completing just one of them is a job accomplished As always and especially now, if a preferable goal can be met, I have the right to change a goal to better suit my needs. I feel cautiously optimist about 2013. I have many smaller goals that are parts of larger ideas, but no large goals will go totally unmet. Perhaps that meets the biggest goal of all; keep my own attitude positive and strive to always make meaningful contributions, no matter how small, to the world.

All of this, or something better.

And by the way, that goal to have these posted by midnight tonight? NAILED IT!

Friendly Friday Fest

Well, we all made it through another week. Yay us!! There are a few Friday memes I have participated in or at least followed and enjoyed. Today’s post is going to include a bunch of them! I call it Friend Fest because that’s what memes are all about, getting to know a little about fellow bloggers and taking advantage of how small the world is online.

The Chronicles of Nani is my coffee shop on the Information Superhighway, where the coffee, or whatever beverage you prefer, is always made perfectly to your liking and the black forest cake is 100% calorie free. Yes, you make your coffee at home and the black forest cake is cyber-cake, but let’s not mince details! The point is it’s a neighborhood coffee shop and every regular and first time visitor is just a few characters after the http:// away.

There are a few little things to tell y’all about, but those things will be at the end. You’ll see why!

So, let’s get this Friday started!

Hilary at Feeling Beachie is our host for The Follow Friday Four Fill-In Fun. It’s easy…ish. Just fill in the blanks with thoughts from your world! I love reading everyone’s answers to see how our minds match up. Some statements are interpreted so differently. It’s fascinating!

This week’s statements:
1. Given the choice to do ___ for ____ I would pick ___
2. When I watch ________ it always makes me want to _____________.
3. When I have people over I always make _________, it always knocks ‘em dead!
4. I always feel like I accomplished something when I __________.

1. Given the choice to do something illegal for a million dollars I would pick driving the getaway car for a single Mom robbing an ATM to feed her kids. Then I could at least feel a little okay about it.

2. When I watch Spring Baseball it always makes me want to eat a hot dog and some ice cream in a mini helmet. And I have a collection of mini helmet for just that!

3. When I have people over I always make cookies, it always knocks ‘em dead! (We really don’t have people over except at Christmas)

4. I always feel like I accomplished something when I get my walker back in the car when I’m out alone.

Five Question Friday is hosted by Mama M at My Little Life, at 5crookedhalos at BlogSpot. I just LOVE that address!

1. Are you looking forward to the time change this weekend?

No! I hate daylight savings time! I grew up in Metro Detroit and now I’m pretty much due south. We’re in the Western edge of our time zone. Kids gather for the bus in the dark at the beginning of it and can you imagine being a child who is sent to bed when it’s still daylight out? I used to scream and cry because it “wasn’t bed time yet.” Add to that in the summer, it was already so late when we went to a drive-in movie that my brother and I were lucky if we got to see the whole first movie and fireworks displays don’t even start until kids are too sleepy to enjoy them.


2. Are you getting the new iPad/would you want a iPad?

I don’t really want one. I don’t really think I’d use it. I’ll probably eventually have to use a smart phone and I’m not looking forward to that. There’s too much of me in something that’s too easy to lose in my dumb phone!


3. If money was not a problem, what is the one thing you would splurge on?

I’d have out train layout with a house over it custom built with perfectly placed pegs and shelves for my mug collection, a stair lift into the basement so I can play with the train too, the basement done to David’s exact specifications for his layout, laundry on the main level of our ranch and a state of the art kitchen with a dishwasher. The 1950s kitchen was a quaint place to visit, for over 5 years, but I really want something a nice 60 years newer with the vintage in décor not vintage reality.

So, right the ONE thing would be a new house!


4. How did you and the Mr. (or Mrs.) meet?

He emailed me in an online group we were both in to invite me to a presentation he was giving at the regional Mensa gathering in Michigan. He was inviting people to make sure he had an audience on a Sunday morning. A few emails later after I gushed about his show being about trains and chat about baseball, he invited me to the Tigers-Red Sox game he had tickets for after the Gathering. It’s always been baseball and trains 2with us.


5. Summer is right around the corner. Bikini or one-piece?

Yeah… LOL

Mrs. 4444, pronounced Mrs. /Fours/ is the host of Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissin’ Time. If you don’t want to join in, you should still go check out her blog! I was drawn to her sense of humor, she’s opinionated but respectful (something I strive to be) and If Mondays are rough for you, or even if they aren’t, she’s got a post for that!

Unsolicited promo done. Let’s talk about Friday Fragments.

Do you ever get what is the exact opposite of blogger’s block, a lot of little things to say? The problem is they are a lot of little things. I am capable of going on a tangent about little things. If you follow The Chronicles of Nani, you’re probably aghast saying, “No, Nani! A tangent, really?” I once wrote 2 pages about eating a single red jelly bean in a journal assignment in high school. Cute at 15 years old and a captive audience; writing in the journal for class was graded. It’s a little over the top at 46. Friday Fragments celebrates those things that are worth telling about, but not enough to fill an entire post. Instead, we out them all in the Friday Fragments post!

So, here we go…


** Bedtime last night, this morning, was 2 AM. It was a stunningly clear and starry night and after dinner, David and I went out to see if we could see the Northern Lights which can possibly be seen in Ohio and possibly farther south right now. We parked in a couple places in the middle of farm land and studied the sky, nothin’. Of course we parked near train tracks, so we’d see some night trains even if the Aurora Borealis didn’t show itself to us. It’s supposed to be clear again tonight and we may try again.


** It’s National Breakfast Month. Who comes up with these “holidays?” Don’t get me wrong, I love the concept of making every day a holiday for one reason or another. It’s just like to thank the person who made me crave a double chocolate Dunkin Donuts donut on Twitter yesterday!


** Many doctors believe that patients who are affected by the weather suffer from psychosomatic pain and that the barometric pressure has no effect on actual pain. Many believe that the weather does have an actual affect. Last week I asked my doctor what his take on that was. He said he has too many patients who have joint issues that are worse when it’s raining including some that if it was up to them, it wouldn’t affect them, that he had to believe the weather and barometric pressure has a real affect I’m one of the patients that if it bothers me, I has to be real. :D


** I finally have almost all of my Chronicles of Nani pictures replaced after the Google+ fiasco last fall.  There are still a couple of scrapbooking promotional and freebies entries I need to locate the photos for since I didn’t archive those posts in my annual compilation of all of my blogs and my personal journals. 20 years from now, ki6ts that are no longer available and smaller reproductions of pages in my printed scrapbooks will not have been worth archiving!


** Finally, you may notice the new countdown on my sidebar. Opening Day is a National Holiday that is pretty big to me, has been for a long time. As a traditionalist baseball season starts when the ump yells “Play Ball” in Cincinnati. My tigers will play the season warm-up game before the season actually begins at 4:05 PM. The TV in this house will show both games!

Hey, Where’d The Sun Go?

I did a few things today, but I mostly rested and drank lots of fluids. But the sore throat and stuffiness still lingers. I have a cup of Gypsy Cold Care tea. It tastes good and it’s very soothing. I crawled up on the bed with a blanket and tread for a while after I showered this morning. I read a few blogs, did a scrapbook page and recently fed the kitty kids. I feel like a bum because I really had planned on doing more White Tornado upstairs today. Bleh.

Is this a rare glimpse into my dark side? Well, grouchy me mutters to the surface when I’m not feeling well. I won’t say “sick,” not yet. I need to keep drinking tea and broth. I’m out of coke, which is my usual throat remedy when it’s cold or allergies. I use regular coke and heat a cup in the microwave for 60 seconds. I know that sounds weird, but it works for me, the sweet warm and a massaging tickle of warm bubbles feels great. In a bit I’m going to see if the remedy works the same with Diet Coke with Splenda. I’m not big on WW medicinal points. David’s bringing me home comfort pretzels. That will work better for me!

My pamper-my-stuffy-self day made me late for Tell Me Tuesday! But it’s still Tuesday, even if it’s already dark!

So here is the prompt for today:

What three words would you use to describe the last three months of your life?

At the end of the next three months, what three words do you hope to be able to use to describe your life at that point?

I’ve been taking the wonderful medication that’s made me feel like my old self for three months now, so my there words would be vibrant, ambitious and relieved.

Had you asked me that same question 3 months ago, it would have been fatigued, frustrated and scared.

Three months from now, in May, when I’ll be making purchases and having furniture assembled.  I want to be happy, industrious and satisfied in a better organized and more accessible home!

I can’t encourage enough to come join us for Tell Me Tuesday hosted by Suzanne at The Coloradolady! It’s thought-provoking and may just introduce you to a part of yourself you haven’t really gotten to know!

OMG, I Need Help!

These are simple and fun blog memes that open you and your blog up to meet more bloggers, interesting and fun neighbors in the blog community! If you’d like to join in, visit Hilary’s blog, Feeling Beachie, on Fridays for The Friday Follow Four Fill-In!

This week’s statements:

1. I don’t understand ___ and probably never will

2. I prefer ___ to ____

3. My favorite smell is ______________because ___________________

4. I suspect my neighbors of _________________

My fill-ins:

1. I don’t understand how any human being can physically hurt another human being or purposely do anything that might cause physical harm, how anyone can take another’s life, how anyone can psychologically or materially violate someone by stealing, breaking in to a home or how anyone can harm an animal, especially a domestic one which is probably psychological trauma to the adults and children to whom they are dear and probably never will. And the truth is I never want to understand it.

2. I prefer waking up early to see the sun rise, especially when I’m traveling.

3. My favorite smell is breakfast cooking outside because it reminds me of camping when I was child.

4. I suspect my neighbors of obsessive insanity over their yard! And as I remind David, they probably think people who leave before dawn to go photograph freight trains are insane too. But seriously, how many times a week does the lawn need mowed? And do you really need to mow in January in Ohio just because there’s no snow?



I Got A Problem

Well, so far I have the cookbooks on the shelf they’ll actually go on. I think. When the other shelving unit is done and the new unit for the toaster oven & coffee pot, which will move the current shorter bookcase, then I’ll dust a few things, seriously mop the floor and figure out where everything’s real homes will be. I do know the dehydrator will go on the bottom of the other shelf. I want it on the bottom and it’s too tall for this one. We’ll place the last shelf a peg higher on the other one. Right now I’m mentally working on where the two biggest pieces will go; the table and the recumbent bike.

I’ve also discovered something about myself. I’m a coffeemaker hoarder. Other things that I have stacks of I’ve had plans for shredding or Good Will for over a year. I won’t call me a hoarder for having had undiagnosed MS. I just call myself so far behind I can kick my own butt. But the coffeemakers?

I had a coffeemaker that I loved for my coffee bar in my living room when I was in my 20s. You put the water in and beans in the left side of the filter and then brewed the best coffee! It was the pot we used here for a while until the carafe broke. It is a filter that without the right type of carafe won’t open the filter bottom to allow the coffee to go through, which causes the filter to overflow and get coffee and coffee grounds all over the counter. Please don’t ask how I know that. It’s not pretty. So, I have a 24 year old coffeemaker that takes a specialty carafe. I used a butter knife and small pan for a while to make coffee, until I had a chance to find one of the three coffeemakers I knew I had in my storage unit. Yes, I said it. I had THREE in my storage unit. I put the old coffeemaker with the impossible to "just find” carafe on the table in the annex with the other appliances we didn’t have kitchen room to store. I think this may be why a previous owner built the annex off the kitchen. A 50s kitchen just doesn’t have the room for modern appliances!

Now, I’m not sure why that coffeemaker didn’t go in the box for appliance recycling day to go away. I have a coffee grinder that I use once in a while. I can even grind beans to use in the My K-Cup filter, so I can grind for one cup and have it that fresh now. But I still have that coffeemaker.

Now, I still have and use the coffeemaker I got from storage when that carafe broke. I use it to make coffee on those occasions where a full pot would serve better than single cups. For instance when 4 or 5 coffee drinkers are here for games night or something like that. Or when anyone visits that prefers a 20-oz cup of plain old coffee to a smaller “frou-frou” cup of coffee. So, why do I need to keep the old grinder-coffeemaker with no carafe?

There’s more evidence of my problem.

Next to the old carafe-less maker is a brand new Gevalia coffeemaker, still in the box, never opened. Remember I said I had 2 more in storage? This isn’t one of them. Back in 2009, when Grandma was in Memory Care at the nursing home, I opened a new account at her bank to pay her bills. I got a free gift for opening a new account! I had a choice of a car emergency kit, a does it all utility knife and a Gevalia coffeemaker. I probably could have used the car emergency kit, but I took the coffeemaker!

There is also a coffee carafe that fit none of the coffee pots we have that’s on the table in the annex. When I cleared out the cabinets, I’m the one that put it there and not in the Good Will box!

So, here is my fix. I’m going to put the old carafe-less coffeemaker in appliance recycling and the extra carafe and the unopened Gevalia coffeemaker in the Good Will box. I have a coffee grinder, a French press and a full size maker in addition to my Keurig. One of the coffeemakers in storage is an espresso maker, so I don’t need anymore coffee appliances, just more mugs!

Thank for reading and helping me self-correct!

Nani Is A Happy Little Princess!

I’m posting my first post of the day a little later than usual today. Pop was over this morning to see what could be done with our crashed bookcase. It took him about an hour to go from shattered pieces to shelving unit anchored to the wall! It took me the better part of the day in 2007 when I assembled the other identical bookcase and David constructs with words, not wood! Assembling a unit from a kit, even a unit that had splintered a few screw holes and taken a chunk out of the bottom of one shelf when it fell was very simple work for my Dad, who has worked in construction since the early 70s. He’s already said that he’ll come back when I get the rest of the kit-furniture. I’ll prepare a nice lunch spread to say “thanks!”

After Pop finished putting the shelves in and put away his tools in his car, we had minestrone. I was both anxious and a little nervous about Pop tasting my first try at minestrone. I thought it was good, just a few tweaks away from great, soup is my specialty, but the opinion of the senior minestrone maker in the family was the true test. He liked it! He really liked it!

After lunch he wanted to make sure he had the directions to Sofo, MY Italian market, so he could stop before he went home. I enjoy the fact that both Pop and my brother feel the desire to stop at MY ethnic store when they visit. I have the edge there!  Sofo is a truly awesome place for Italian groceries!

So far, the popcorn popper is the only thing on a shelf, since that was the tallest appliance and it was used to place the first shelf. After a couple of serious moving, bending, lifting and stretching days upstairs, I promised myself, and David, especially David, that I was going to relax today. Just like working out, rip, then heal to build muscles, I rip then heal to restore strength.

Happy Chocolate Day!

Today is Chocolate Day!  Chocolate Day is celebrated on the third day of Valentines Week. So I think I’ll eat my rose tonight.

David has been bringing home little gifts when he finds ones that just scream me. At this time of year, there are lots of those! At the end of January, he brought me a Dove rose. I know the rose is 3 Weight Watchers points. I figured it out right away, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to opening it. It’s so pretty and so sweet and romantic and once I eat it, it’s gone! I think official Chocolate Day is a good day to finally open it. There WILL be more chocolate, likely even more chocolate from David!

The past couple of nights we’ve had another treat he brought me.

He knows me well! That little black forest cake was the perfect size for us to share for dessert for two nights.


Last thing I’ll share for now is a vintage thing for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

I have three peach-tone glass dessert plates from Grandma’s. You don’t really see the peachiness until there are a few stacked together, but they ARE peachy!

I confess that it was a set of four, but I lost one to a knock off the counter that also claimed one of my dollar-store glass plates. Obviously the peach dish was a bigger heartbreak!

I don’t know exactly how old these ones are. What I do know is I hadn’t seen them before we found them in the back of the cabinets that had many other old dishes. I spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house and did a lot of foodie things with her. So, I’m fairly sure they pre-date me! I do know they are pretty and totally match my peach and green kitchen future!

See more Vintage Thingies at Suzanne’s blog, The Coloradolady, every Thursday!

Links

Chocolate Day

Sofo Market

The Coloradolady